Introducing Olympus & Olympus I/O - A new perspective on modern music playback

[Blue58]

Found on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1760146194920794

 

[wil]

O+I/O #39 arrived on Friday. From the time I received the FedEx email that it had shipped to the time it was in my front door was just three days. I let them acclimate in the flight cases in my front hall over the weekend. Had some helping hands here yesterday to get it in the rack. I plugged it into the mains power and turned on the rear switches. Downloaded the BMS app and the O+I/O showed right up. I was able to set the charge cycle to my preferred timing. Super easy so far.

It's not mandatory but I wanted to let the O+I/O charge overnight before wiring into my system. Enjoying my Extreme for one more day.

This morning, I powered down the Extreme, router and switch. Wired the O+I/O into my system, powered up the router, and waited a few minutes. Powered up the switch, waited a minute. Then powered up the O with its front switch. Restarted my Ipad, signed into Roon, then Quobuz and Tidal. Selected the Olympus as the Roon server and selected the Taiko USB output. I queued up one of my favorite recordings both musically and sonically (Chick Corea - Trilogy - live from 2013, 96/24) and VOILA I was listening to sweet music again! That was super easy!

What was with all the trepidation on my end? I find that I almost go into panic attack mode when my stereo system is down. So, I put on a CD to break the silence when the Extreme was offline, and the O+I/O was being wired. Just the possibility of removing the Extreme from my system and then not being able to get the O+I/O working had me sweating throughout the process. As it turned out the worrying was for no reason. The whole unwiring of the Extreme, rewiring of the O+I/O and O setup process took less than a half hour.

I’m starting out using USB to the DAC. It will take me at least a few days of listening to get a good idea of the difference in sound between the Extreme and O+I/O. Even though it has only been running for about an hour, I can already say there is a significant improvement in definition, imaging, transient response, dynamics and detail. The imaging is much larger in every dimension which tells me that the Dac is receiving even more detailed and accurate information than it was previously. I remember the Extreme improving in sound quality for about a month or so when it was new. So, I expect a similar burn in period for the O+I/O. Once I’ve spent some time listening to the USB output, I’ll give a listen to the I/O XDMI analog out. After reading the comments that others have posted, I’m really looking forward to that!

Fun times ahead for sure!

Give the Xdmi/analog out a good long burn in! It seems to just keep getting better

 

[Blue58]

Taiko Olympus from 4 mins in.

 

[aLLeARS]

Give the Xdmi/analog out a good long burn in! It seems to just keep getting better

Thanks for the heads up on the burn in time. Makes sense especially with the analog section involved.
I've been captivated by the sound with just the USB output of the Olympus & I/O. Everything sounds so solid and calm, it's a whole new paradigm.
@Steve williams - That bell rang loud and clear!
People here are saying that XDMI is even a bigger step up.
I'm really looking forward to that! I'll make sure to give it plenty of play time when I get there.

 

[ray-dude]

NASA released a photo from the ISS flying over @austinpop 's house, showing Mt Olympus




(actually Olympus Mons on Mars, but the other story is better

 

[aLLeARS]

NASA released a photo from the ISS flying over @austinpop 's house, showing Mt Olympus

View attachment 140501


(actually Olympus Mons on Mars, but the other story is better

Who knew they had boobs on Mars?

 

[Taiko Audio]

In my case (OP), my interruptions do occur in the course of a session where I am regularly selecting new albums, always from Qobuz ( I have not set up my local files yet and I do not use Tidal). I do sometimes interrupt those albums, and change to another. I have noticed no correlation between what I am playing, or how long the playlist might be. My interruptions are not requiring 6-12 hour playlists. My Qubuz has the latest version.

As a follow up to this. I have run multiple tests over multiple days. This appears to be a Qobuz issue. I have uninterrupted local file and Tidal playback (tested up to 24 hours), but Qobuz fails regularly, it doesn't even need to be queue based playback, it can even stop during an individual manually selected track. Roon logs show timeout errors in the network stream in that case.

I'm not going to spend more time on this now as this is out of our control anyway, and we're busy enough as is!

 

[MarcelNL]

there is/was a Quobuz issue, skipping and or stopping after a while of streaming.

(I did report it, we'll see)

 

[RUIN*ish]

Another option for running in...
Normally does not time out..

http://stream.radioparadise.com/flac

Add to my live radio

 

[Taiko Audio]

@dminches , we’re updating on this forum, see above for the last.

This to put an end to the mayor support headache the webpage creates. It looked like a good idea but it turned out to be a very bad one.

We are contemplating moving to a subscription based e-mail system, working on that now.

Meanwhile Silver Olympus servers (without I/O): 41.1, 47, 51, 58, 63, 65 shipped to the hazardous material handling company while Black Olympus servers (with 3 I/Os) : 34.1, 40, 42, 44, 49, 60 are being finished. Silver I/Os are expected to arrive this Thursday but will need to pass QC. And eagerly awaiting the arrival of a rather sizeable black batch.

An update for "team black":

Black Olympus servers finished: 34.1, 40, 42, 49
Black Olympus servers under construction: 44, 53, 54, 56, 60, 61, 62

We currently have 45 chassis waiting to be anodised, of which 30 in black, but now at 2 different anodising companies. And we have just hired another team member so hopefully we can build these fast upon their return!

 

[austinpop]

As a follow up to this. I have run multiple tests over multiple days. This appears to be a Qobuz issue. I have uninterrupted local file and Tidal playback (tested up to 24 hours), but Qobuz fails regularly, it doesn't even need to be queue based playback, it can even stop during an individual manually selected track. Roon logs show timeout errors in the network stream in that case.

I'm not going to spend more time on this now as this is out of our control anyway, and we're busy enough as is!

Emile, I am also having stoppages here, and it's not just with Qobuz, it is even with local (on NAS) files.

Since I connected up the Olympus on Monday, I have had a house full of family for Thanksgiving, so have had little time for troubleshooting. But I was hoping to burn in the unit with 24/7 playback, and every time I check, it seems to have stopped with "Roon lost control of the audio device."

I did reboot my entire network stack, and I also experimented with 2 Roon settings: "Max buffer size" and "power of 2 buffers." Neither makes a difference.

One last observation: it runs uninterrupted the longest after a reboot, but the intervals between stoppages become greater over time.

I'll open a support ticket and send you my serial number if you'd like to look at the Roon logs. We can take it offline from here, but just wanted to alert you that the problem here is not just with Qobuz.

 

[jbrrp1]

An update for "team black":

Black Olympus servers finished: 34.1, 40, 42, 49
Black Olympus servers under construction: 44, 53, 54, 56, 60, 61, 62

We currently have 45 chassis waiting to be anodised, of which 30 in black, but now at 2 different anodising companies. And we have just hired another team member so hopefully we can build these fast upon their return!

I'm happy for those that are happy with black. What's the prognosis for we silver Olympus + I/O denizens?

 

[John T]

I'm happy for those that are happy with black. What's the prognosis for we silver Olympus + I/O denizens?

Denizens: a good word seldomly used!

 

[RUIN*ish]

Emile, I am also having stoppages here, and it's not just with Qobuz, it is even with local (on NAS) files.

Since I connected up the Olympus on Monday, I have had a house full of family for Thanksgiving, so have had little time for troubleshooting. But I was hoping to burn in the unit with 24/7 playback, and every time I check, it seems to have stopped with "Roon lost control of the audio device."

I did reboot my entire network stack, and I also experimented with 2 Roon settings: "Max buffer size" and "power of 2 buffers." Neither makes a difference.

One last observation: it runs uninterrupted the longest after a reboot, but the intervals between stoppages become greater over time.

I'll open a support ticket and send you my serial number if you'd like to look at the Roon logs. We can take it offline from here, but just wanted to alert you that the problem here is not just with Qobuz.

Apple or Android?

 

[Taiko Audio]

I'm happy for those that are happy with black. What's the prognosis for we silver Olympus + I/O denizens?

We’re still waiting for silver I/O chassis, unfortunately we’re completely at the mercy of our (initial) anodising company here as they did not finish these today as indicated.

 

[austinpop]

Apple or Android?

Apple iPad.

 

[RUIN*ish]

Apple iPad.

Anyone out there with Android having the same issue? Sans bms

 

[oldmustang]

Denizens: a good word seldomly used!

Denizens -- isn't that like a cave full of Buddhist monks?

Steve Z

 

[John T]

Denizens -- isn't that like a cave full of Buddhist monks?

Steve Z

We are the denizens of the audio world, and yes some of us are Buddhist Monks who live in caves and forests...

 

[jbrrp1]

Denizens -- isn't that like a cave full of Buddhist monks?

Steve Z

I feel like an ascetic, cast into the wilds, hearing of all others enjoying their new Olympi!